Past, Present, and Future
by djinndjinn
Summary: One-shot extended ending to the 2012 continuation. The story takes into account a few specific and some broader ideas from the original material and it ties into the Dallas franchise canon as a whole, however, a detailed knowledge of the original material is not required.


**One-shot extended ending to the 2012 continuation. The story takes into account a few specific and some broader ideas from the original material and it ties into the Dallas franchise canon as a whole, however, a detailed knowledge of the original material is not required. Thanks for reading :)**

Falling backwards onto the concrete as the car exploded, Elena Ramos' vision went dark and her mind went blank for a moment before the heat of the flames, coolness of the concrete and the ringing in her ears reminded her of her surroundings. Processing the context of the burning car in front of her, the physically ill feeling she had had earlier returned, though this time, it had nothing to do with her newly identified health condition. Scrambling to her feet, she attempted to get closer to the car, though physically, with the heat from the flames reaching out further than the flames themselves, it was a lot harder than she imagined. "CHRISTOPHER!" shocked and distressed, the only thing she could think of doing at that moment was to scream at the car. "CHRISTOPHER!" calling out again and getting no response, the cold, hard reality of the situation began to hit her, "NO!"

Across town, sitting in the back of a limousine reading paperwork, John Ross Ewing felt his phone vibrating and then heard the high-pitched ringing. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he smirked to himself as he answered, "hello Bum". Listening to the voice on the other end of the phone confirm that the information he had received was legitimate and then asking him for his next instructions in the plan, he paused for a moment before replying, "I want you to find her Bum. I want you to find my sister". Ending the call as soon as he finished giving his directions, he leaned over to the small bar, picked up a glass and whiskey decanter and taking a moment to study the engraved letters on the decanter, he spoke aloud, "thank you daddy". Pouring himself a drink, he looked at the decanter again and thinking of his father, he raised his glass, took a drink and then grinned to himself, letting out a small, evil chuckle reminiscent of his fathers, in fact, if he hadn't known better, he could've sworn that his father was right there with him.

"Sue Ellen… Sue Ellen", recognizing a familiar voice speaking her name, but not quite understanding what was happening, Sue Ellen Ewing responded, letting out a small groan that somehow encapsulated and relayed her distress, confusion and tiredness. "Shh, it's ok darlin'", feeling a hand brushing the hair off her face, she slowly became more conscious of her surroundings, though with that consciousness came more confusion. "Wake up sugar. You're fine, I'm right here", hearing the familiar, comforting voice addressing her in a personal manner, she stiffened as the words registered with her. It couldn't be. Could it?

Feeling the hand on her face again, her eyes shot open and as her physical surroundings came into focus, she jumped and let out a startled gasp. Seeing JR Ewing lying next to her in bed, looking at her with such pure love and concern, her confusion and emotion regarding the situation grew. How could he be here? How could they be here? Confused and convinced she was either dreaming or dead, but also feeling as if she was wide-awake, she reached out to touch his face in order to gauge whether he was simply a figment of her imagination or whether it was something more. Recoiling in shock and confusion when her hand connected with his warm, stubbly face, confirming that she wasn't imagining him in front of her and she hadn't imagined him brushing her hair out of her face, she then stared at him in shock. "I… I don't understand", stuttering as she spoke, she then whispered the second half of her sentence, "am I… are we dead?" needing to know, she looked at him with wide, pleading eyes. "No darlin', we're very much alive", taking her hand, he placed it over his heart and allowed her to feel the steady beat. "I…" overcome with emotion, she found herself fighting back tears, but when he moved closer to her and then pulled her into a hug, she could no longer stop her tears from falling and quickly found herself sobbing into his chest.

"That must've been some dream", relaxing a little as he stroked her hair, Sue Ellen pulled away from him as he spoke, "dream?" confused and emotional, she desperately hoped that he had some evidence that everything she remembered and believed to have just happened was only a dream. So many awful things had occurred, though they all paled in comparison to losing him, especially the way she had lost him; she had never had the chance to say goodbye or tell him how much she really did love him and how she would always love him. She had a chance now though, he was there with her and she was determined to make it clear that whatever had happened between them in the past was just that, the past; she loved him, she had always loved him and she needed him to understand that, for her own peace of mind and his.

"Yes darlin', a dream. From the way you were tossing and turning, mumbling and the complete shock and disbelief on your face when you did awake, I can only imagine that whatever you were dreaming wasn't pleasant", looking at his wife in a somewhat confused and entirely concerned manner, JR attempted to explain his side of the situation to her. "Oh JR", remembering everything that had happened, or she thought had happened, she bowed her head and snuggled back into him, looking for comfort wherever she could get it, "it was awful". Relaxing as he stroked her hair gently, she lay against him in silence for a few moments before lifting her head to look at him again; she needed to check again to make sure that he was real.

Studying his face, her confusion only grew. It had felt so real, but in her 'dream', he had been a much older man than how he appeared to her now, so seeing him as he was now just seemed so strange. Sitting up shakily, she got out of bed and walked over to the full-length mirror near her closet; standing up straight, she turned left and right, moved closer to, then further away from her reflection. Reaching her hand out, it became clear when she gasped quietly, that she had almost expected to touch something other than cool glass. As a woman studying her reflection, the way she perceived herself changed a number of times; at first she appeared to be young, but that was only in comparison to her previous mental image of herself, the one from her dream. As she continued to stare at her reflection, her perspective then changed; she wasn't young, or at least, she wasn't as young as she once had been.

"What year is it?" turning to look at JR, she mentally studied his appearance again; he was older than her, he always had been, that was how age worked, however, he looked young to her now for some reason. Perhaps his appearance had ingrained itself in her mind more than her own had, because in what he had told her a few times now had been a dream, she had looked at him more than she had looked at herself. "It's nineteen ninety nine", hearing him answer her, things began to fall into place a little more. Nineteen ninety nine meant she was either fifty-one or fifty-two years old, depending on what month it was; it also meant he was sixty. Sixty was a lot younger than the seventy-three or seventy-four she had imagined him as in her dream. It also meant their son, John Ross, was only just a college student, not the grown man she had dreamt about him being.

Walking back toward the bed, she found herself holding back tears again; she was so confused, it had all felt so real. The pain of watching John Ross making the same mistakes with his wife JR had made in their marriages, and the pain of losing JR, especially in such an abrupt manner, had been almost unbearable; to find out now that neither of those things had happened, was just so hard to believe. In a way, she still didn't believe they weren't real; perhaps they were, perhaps her dream was actually some kind of premonition; she truly hoped not though, because knowing what would happen in their future and seeing it all unfolding again would be horrific, even if she had some power to change some circumstances.

Watching her emotional struggle, JR's heart panged; whatever had happened in her dream had obviously been extremely real, because at no point in their long history together had he ever experienced anything like this before. Pulling her toward him, he was glad to see she wasn't going to struggle or fight him, but instead was more than content to accept any and all reassurance he was offering to her. Taking a moment to silently comfort her, he then began to speak, hoping that reminding her of the present would help her forget the past, or the future, or whatever it was that she had dreamt about. "It's nineteen ninety nine, you and I remarried again last year, after I was shot by one of Carter McKay's goons. You originally resisted, because you liked holding it over me that you owned part of Ewing Oil and I didn't own any… though I did own Weststar, so it wasn't as if I had nothing. After Bobby resigned to work on the ranch full-time though, he offered you first refusal when it came to selling his part of the company. Naturally, you wanted it and I wanted it, but you didn't quite have the capital or knowledge to do it alone you knew you needed me if you wanted it to remain in Ewing hands. Of course, I was only too pleased to know it too, but in what you called a 'surprisingly restrained' moment, I said nothing and waited for you to come to me, which you didn't, not until Bobby started to pressure you into making a decision. John Ross then finally cracked and told us to stop being stupid and pool our resources and collective minds, so we did, and in that, we also merged our lives again, marrying just a week later; this time we had a small wedding, just seven guests. I do hope you will be pleased to know that we now jointly Ewing Oil and are currently the biggest independent oil company in not only Texas, but the whole southern United States. Merging my Weststar and our Ewing Oil turned out to be an excellent decision, as did remarrying".

Staring up at JR as he spoke, Sue Ellen almost couldn't believe what she was hearing. She didn't have amnesia as far as she was aware, it was just that somehow, her dream had felt so real that it had messed with her sense of reality, and now that she was back, she needed a lot of reassuring and reminding of what was real and true. Of course, being in bed with JR had to mean something, it always did, it was never just random with them; for some reason, it hadn't even clicked in her mind earlier that if she was believing her dream's version of reality, they weren't married and shouldn't be in bed together, because it was just so natural and normal. Surely, at sixty years of age, he was content with monogamy; perhaps this time things were right for them. She sure hoped that was the case, because she couldn't and wouldn't deny it, she loved him and she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, especially since she had now had a very real taste of what losing him felt like.

Hearing the news of the Ewing Oil and Weststar merger, something inside her clicked, especially when he described her enjoyment at holding something over him and subsequent stubbornness when it came to needing his help. Of course, after knowing each other for thirty years, they knew each other pretty well, and it seemed as if their son knew them pretty well too. She didn't know how she felt about being the owner of a huge oil company, but JR seemed happy and seemed convinced that she was also happy about it, so she decided not to question it too much. Her dream had had a strange effect on her, even in her dream, the Ewing family had been involved in oil drilling, though even as the details were beginning to slip from her mind, she recalled various discussions about 'alternative energy'. It was confusing, because as it had been a dream, not a memory of an actual experience, she knew she really shouldn't put too much weight on such thoughts, however, if she was a businesswoman now, then perhaps it was something worth looking into anyway; there was no harm in taking some positive from the negative.

Still a little confused about everything, she felt the need to clarify. "Where is John Ross?" having heard him mentioned earlier, she assumed their relationship was better now than it had been in her dream, though she needed reassurance; her dream had scarred her, even if it was based on nothing real. "Away at college. He's a sophomore at UT; he's a business major, he's pledged a fraternity and he comes home on the weekends pretty regularly. Before you ask, no girlfriend, we told him to enjoy himself while he's young, and I'm sure he's doing just that". Hearing JR's explanation, Sue Ellen relaxed; their son was off enjoying himself like a normal college student and often returned home on the weekends, because he actually liked his family; he wasn't married, cheating on his wife and acting like a terrible person, and she was extremely relieved to know that. "Christopher too?" with an all too clear memory of Christopher's premature death, her shakiness returned, though it quickly subsided as JR responded with an equally reassuring answer. "Christopher is fine. He's a senior in high school and he's planning to follow the family path, UT next year, then Bobby has a place waiting for him here at the ranch after he graduates, just like we have a job at Ewing Oil waiting for John Ross when he graduates. The next generation is set, you don't need to worry".

Knowing it was absolutely ridiculous, because it was obvious that her dream had been just that and nothing in the dream had actually happened, she still felt compelled to ask. "What about Bum, and Elena?" speaking the words aloud, she felt herself relaxing even more than she already was; JR looked thoroughly confused and in this case, that was a good thing. "I'm sorry darlin', I don't know who you're referring to…" with a mixture of confusion and expectation of an explanation or clarification, JR spoke and then paused, and she was only too happy to answer; his answers were quickly reassuring her that a lot the things she had thought were real were nothing more than figments of her imagination. "Bum, he was one of your henchmen; and Elena Ramos, her mother, Carmen, was the Southfork maid. Elena was friends with John Ross and Christopher…" trailing off as she received nothing but a blank stare from JR, she felt calm and reassured; it really had been a dream, none of it was real, and she was so glad.

Shaking his head lightly, JR grinned and muttered under his breath more to himself than to her, "that was some detailed dream you had". Sue Ellen was acting almost like an amnesiac, but he didn't think she actually was; her dream must have felt as real as she kept telling him it did though, because surely to ask about fictional people would seem insane if they were clearly figments of her imagination. Whatever was going on, he didn't mind laying there, reassuring her. It was Saturday morning and they had the house to themselves since Bobby had taken a weekend trip away with his girlfriend Jennifer, his mother and Clayton were on a long vacation around Europe and Christopher was in the habit of getting up early on the weekends to go out and assist the ranch hands. "It was", seeing her looking at him with a deeply pained, but also deeply loving and happy expression, he knew she was being honest, though it wasn't as if he had doubted her before.

Finding herself lost in staring at him, Sue Ellen was somewhat surprised when she felt his lips upon hers. It hadn't been a quick action that had come out of nowhere, but for some reason, she just hadn't expected it, though whether she expected it or not ultimately didn't really matter, because as soon as she felt him kissing her, her natural instinct was to respond, with equal fervour. JR Ewing, the man she had felt so many different emotions for, was now back in her life, though as she had been told a few times now, it wasn't exactly like that. Their renewed relationship wasn't a new thing, it just felt like it for her, though at the same time, it also felt like the most natural and familiar thing in the world. She was confused, but not really; it was complicated, but also simple. She was in love with him and he was in love with her, but today, her feelings were magnified, because not only was she determined to show him how much she loved him, she was also determined to remind herself just how real he was. The pain of losing him had been unbearable, but it was just a dream, though the feeling that it was real was hard to shake, so every second she had him now, she was appreciative.

Half an hour later, JR grinned to himself again. Whatever had been or was still going on with Sue Ellen, he had no doubt she loved him and somewhere inside her, every memory he had reminded her of earlier was locked away, ready to be remembered any moment now. He was willing to wait for her to remember completely, or at least just push the memory of her dreamland away, because even with her acting as if she didn't remember, he still had a wife who so desperately wanted him and wanted to give him everything. "Have we ever considered alternative energy?" hearing the question, he was caught off-guard. It was so random and out of nowhere that he almost didn't understand what she was asking, though when he did, he wondered exactly what had gone on in her dream. "No, not really. Why?" hoping to coax an answer from her, he looked at her and waited. "Oh, no real reason, just something that was mentioned in my dream…" receiving a vague answer from his wife, JR just nodded and then kissed her again. She was obviously still a little muddled, but at least now it was somewhat understandable; alternative energy was something for them to discuss on Monday, when they were back at work, together, but for now, it wasn't something they needed to dwell upon.

Enjoying kissing, snuggling and talking with JR, her husband, Sue Ellen didn't even blink when she looked over at the clock and saw the time. In the old days, when the Ewing family was ruled by formal traditions, it would have been unthinkable to still be in bed at this time of morning, but from everything JR had told her and what she was beginning to remember, things were different and more relaxed now; they were all alone too, they could do whatever they wanted. After a long while of reacquainting herself with the reality and context of her marriage though, she did find her mind wandering, "do you think John Ross is busy? I'd love to see him". Watching JR as he silently moved to pick up the phone next to the bed, dialled a number and then asked whoever was on the other end of the line for John Ross Ewing before handing the phone over to her, she almost burst into tears at the sound of her son's voice. She probably sounded insane to him, because by all accounts, they'd seen each other just last weekend and were on good terms with each other, however, she didn't care how she sounded, it was just nice to hear his voice and hear for herself how at ease he was to speak to her.

Walking downstairs a little while later, Sue Ellen no longer felt surprised or shocked by things like the placement of the dining room or kitchen, they were familiar and they were right. All was well; JR loved her and they actually seemed to be on good footing with each other in both their business and personal lives. John Ross was a normal young man; he had a good life at college and a good relationship with his family. Clayton and Miss Ellie were both still alive and happily married. Bobby was in a good, happy, fulfilling relationship and was finally content with his livelihood, ranching, not drilling for oil. Christopher sounded as if his rough start in life and then various personal setbacks hadn't done him too much damage and he was also a happy, healthy, well-rounded young man. As well as that, it didn't sound as if any of their extended family or acquaintances were in exceptionally rough circumstances or were anywhere near as damaged as they had appeared in her dream.

 _Her dream_. At this point, it felt like a nightmare. Whatever it was, she was glad none of it was real. She loved the life she was living now and even if she had the opportunity to change it or somehow choose between the reality she had thought she'd been experiencing in the 'future'/'present' and what she now knew was the true present, she knew there was no choice. Her life was as close to perfect as it would ever be and she was truly happy. It felt good to have a second chance, or at least feel like she did. She wouldn't take her circumstances for granted ever again; she'd seen the way things could turn out and even thought it had all been a dream, the pain was very real and was not something she ever wished to actually experience. Life was good now and she was glad.

The end.

 **Author's Note: Was this a bit of wish fulfilment? Probably. It was all based on canon storylines though, so it could have all happened like this for all we know…  
Thanks for reading :)**


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